Crane needed to flip world’s biggest Spanish omelette as Sanxenxo feeds 10,000 for charity

Crowds packed Sanxenxo in Galicia on Saturday to watch a family-run egg company cook what organisers called the world’s biggest Spanish omelette. Family company El Huevo de la Abuela (O Ovo da Avoa) used 17,000 eggs, 1,700 kilos of potatoes, 300 kilos of onion, 300 litres of oil and 30 kilos of salt.

Six-metre pan and 72 pairs of hands

Town hall social posts said thousands turned out for the cook-off, tied to the local onion fair and Santa Rosalia festivities. Seventy-two people worked a six-metre-diameter pan. Portions came with onion and without, a nod to Spain’s never-ending kitchen argument over how a proper tortilla de patatas should taste. Fans of that debate will recognise the split from earlier Euro Weekly News coverage of national surveys on onion versus no onion.

75-tonne crane for the flip

Sanxenxo council called the flip the day’s most nail-biting moment. So easily could they have ended up with the world’s biggest pan of scrambled eggs.bCrews needed a 75-tonne crane to turn the giant omelette. Officials described it as a high-precision job that went off without a hitch. Cooking finished around 14.15, then queues formed for 10,000 portions at just €3 each. Proceeds go to charity.

Council thanks went to the Melide-based family firm, sponsors, volunteers and everyone who turned up. “Sanxenxo made history,” the town hall said.

Onion fair backdrop and a Galician food tradition

This was no one-off stunt. The same company staged a similar giant omelette in Melide last year. Sanxenxo’s version sat inside the Feira da Cebola, putting the town’s own onions front and centre. Galicia already draws food lovers for octopus, percebes and hearty home cooking; a monster tortilla fits that pattern of big, communal plates that raise cash as well as eyebrows.

Readers who like oversized Spanish dishes can look back at Euro Weekly News pieces on giant paella fundraisers and huge rice cook-offs in other regions. Marbella’s well-reviewed tortilla bars and Galicia travel features give more flavour of the same food culture. Official details on the egg producer sit at elhuevodelaabuela.com. Broader context on Spanish omelette records and earlier attempts is available from contemporary Spanish press reports on the Melide and Vitoria cook-offs.

Portions sold out to a mix of locals and visitors. Charity takings were the point, not a stamped Guinness certificate on the day. For a coastal Galician town better known for beaches and summer crowds, a six-metre omelette flipped by crane made for an unusual Saturday in early September.